


Day is Done

by sjhw_tolerance (mscorkill)



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-26
Updated: 2012-05-26
Packaged: 2017-11-06 00:56:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/412931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mscorkill/pseuds/sjhw_tolerance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam visits her father's grave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day is Done

**Author's Note:**

> Written from a prompt; originally posted in 2006.

DAY IS DONE

Sam sat back in comfortable leather seat of the Lincoln Town Car, watching out the darkened window as the flat prairie whizzed by, the powerful car eating up the miles between the Springs and Denver. A large hand reached over and enfolded hers within its warmth. “You okay?” her companion rumbled.

Her lips curved in a tender smile. “Yeah,” she reassured him, squeezing his hand. For the first time since she’d started making this annual trip, she felt like everything was ‘okay’. He nodded and though she missed his touch when he released her hand and once more started reading through the stack of work he’d brought with him, she didn’t protest. It was enough that he had rearranged his schedule to include this trip when she’d asked him to accompany her.

She sighed softly. That first year, she’d made the trip to Fort Logan with Daniel. It wasn’t that she hadn’t wanted Pete to go with her, he’d met Janet after all, however briefly. But…her friend had been surprisingly close-mouthed about her whole relationship with him and Sam had always had the feeling that she hadn’t approved of him. And even though at the time of her death they had been engaged and planning a life together, she’d had an uneasy feeling that he wouldn’t really understand what motivated her pilgrimage, so she’d gone with Daniel. Which, on retrospect, should have been her first indication that maybe Janet had been right and all was not as it should be in regards to her fiancé.

It hadn’t really surprised her that Daniel had already planned to make a trip to the cemetery, it was his nature and his work to honor the memory of the dead. So on that blustery March day, with the possibility of spring snowstorms threatening, they had made the drive to Denver. The grocery store bouquet of colorful daisies, bright against the cold white headstone, told her that Cassie had already been there. Daniel put his arm around her and they stood there in silence, lost in memories until the first drops of a cold rain started to fall. She’d quickly laid the spray of roses and carnations she’d brought next to the daises and they’d walked silently through the rows of headstones back to her car as the rain turned into snow. 

The second anniversary of Janet’s death had been marked by a late night phone call from a very drunk Cassie, her first indication that all was not well with the college freshman. But she’d been enmeshed in problems of her own and hadn’t been in a position to help the girl, she’d barely been able to keep her life together at the point, much less help someone else. So it had been two months later until she’d made the drive to Fort Logan. And that time Pete was with her and she was going to her father’s funeral. She’d stood stoically between her brother and her fiancé at the graveside, determined to be the ‘good soldier’ one more time for her father. At the conclusion of the service, she’d managed to slip away from them all, to briefly visit her friend’s grave, the tears she’d successfully kept at bay all through her father’s services finally falling.

When a comforting arm had wrapped around her shoulders, it hadn’t surprise her that it wasn’t her fiancé—nor was it Daniel or Teal’c. She’d accepted the comfort he’d offered and hadn’t questioned the peace that filled her when she was in his arms. It wasn’t until later, when she’d lain awake in bed, staring at the ceiling with her world crumbling down around her while her fiancé slept soundly beside her, that everything her father had told her and all her jumbled emotions started to make sense and she knew what she had to do.

So lost in her thoughts, Sam didn’t realize the driver had exited the interstate until they turned into the main drive at the cemetery. She looked around in awe; she’d never been to the cemetery on Memorial Day before, the rows of white headstones gleamed in the bright sun, the flags at each grave waving in the breeze bringing a lump to her throat. So many lives…. Their car passed freely around barricades, waved on by solemn soldiers and veterans. There were certain advantages to traveling with a general, she decided, as their driver was waved on past the other cars and crowds of people, to park down where the official ceremony would take place.

Jack stuffed his papers back into his briefcase and she waited while the young airman opened the General’s door first, a soft flush of pleasure filling her when Jack immediately came around and opened her door. They had barely walked a few steps before they were met by a young lieutenant who escorted them to the front row of chairs that had been set out for the ceremony. Sam had figured it would be almost impossible for a two-star General to make an appearance on a day like this without some acknowledgement of his presence and she was right. But fortunately, after the initial formalities, the focus was no longer on them, but on the eighty-five thousand souls laid in final rest beneath the blue Colorado sky.

The last echo of the twenty-one gun salute had faded away, the speeches and prayers concluded and Jack was surrounded by several of the other dignitaries who had gathered for the ceremony when she finally slipped away. The gathered crowd had gradually faded away, fanning out over the two hundred some acres of the cemetery. She strolled slowly through the neat rows of headstones, making her way to Janet’s grave first, the tiny flag fluttering in the soft breeze. There was a partially wilted spray of daisies lying next to the headstone and Sam wondered idly when Cassie had made the trip to the cemetery. 

So much had changed since the last time she’d stood here. Her life—and Cassie’s—had changed dramatically, and she hoped for the better, during the tumultuous months since her father’s death. The months she had taken off from active gate travel had benefited her relationship with Cassie—and with Jack. Sam smiled, she figured Janet would be happy on both counts. 

It wasn’t far too her father’s grave and she nodded solemnly at the couple standing at the headstone two down from her father’s as she walked by. Kneeling down on the finely manicured grass, Sam lightly traced his name, the marble unexpectedly warm beneath her fingers. She wasn’t really sure what she believed regarding an afterlife anymore, but she hoped that he knew that she was happy now. 

When she started to stand, she felt a familiar hand on her elbow and she smiled slightly, letting him help her to her feet. He remained beside her; his hand slowly slid down her arm and their fingers intertwined as they stood at the grave. 

“Do you think he would approve?” she murmured, leaning against him. Even though he was dead and she was a grown woman, there was still a part of her that craved her father’s approval.

“I think,” Jack said, his voice deliberate, “that he just wanted you to be happy.”

She squeezed his hand, a sense of peace filling her. “Then he would approve.” 

THE END


End file.
